DOLOMITES SASLONG HM 'KISSING' MARTINA AND ALEX - RACE CHAMPIONS

Alex Oberbacher and his half Martina Cumerlato sign the fourth edition.
Runners celebrating on Monte Pana, Cumerlato is a record-breaker.
On the podium also a debutant, the Bolognese Benedetta Coliva ahead of Martina Falchetti.
Felicetti attempts the forcing, Oberbacher escapes, also pursued by Messner.

The Sassolungo enchants the runners with the Dolomites Saslong Half Marathon, on a fairytale day where... fairytales sometimes come true. This is the story of the two winners of the fourth edition, which crowned Alex Oberbacher and Martina Cumerlato, companions in sport and also in life, who celebrated their victory with a kiss that was certainly not 'chaste'. Bravo to them and bravo to the 600 enthusiasts who took on the race around the Sassolungo, 21 km on an unforgettable day, blue skies and bright sunshine. But the stories of this fourth edition put on by the ASV Gherdëina Runners are many.

Ready to go, after the start from Monte Pana, the small group of the strongest immediately set a sustained pace, breaking away from the masses that formed a long snake in the presence of her majesty the Sassolungo. The first to put the arrow in is Trentino's Daniele Felicetti, who is determined to redeem his second place in 2021. The South Tyrolean Lukas Messner 'copied' him, with the sly Alex Oberbacher keeping an eye on the situation.

On the first challenging climb, with a technical single track up to below the Comici hut, Alex Oberbacher broke through. The technical climb is his forte, and it was there that he launched the decisive attack, managing to gain a good handful of seconds on Felicetti and Messner, with Piedmont's Simone Eydallin aggressive but unable to catch up with the terrible leading trio. Oberbacher, from Gardena/Gröden, seemed to be spinning his long levers with his eyes closed, his lead before entering the descent after the Sasso Piatto had grown to almost a minute, and he wisely decided to control the situation on the steep and technical descent. The lead then dropped to 30", and to 20" when there were 3 km to go. Then Alex came full throttle to the finish in Cendevaves, after a beautiful passage around the small lake of Monte Pana in which the Sassolungo was reflected.

1h35'54" was the winner's time, which is not a record, with a 16" lead over Daniele Felicetti, who can now be defined as "eternal second" at the Saslong, but still on the podium and with 54" over Messner. All the others are from another planet, with Eydallin first among them and fourth at 7'48". Felicetti raced with great determination, but Oberbacher, if he had come second, would have had to pay a very expensive bet to 'his' Martina (Cumerlato, n.d.r.), a day of intense house cleaning, including the floors!

For her part, Cumerlato would also have had to pay a bet had she come second, and so she set off at full speed, never looking back. At the start in the first few kilometres, Martina Falchetti from Gardena/Gröden, controlled by last year's winner Caterina Stenta, latched on, but few had paid attention to the performance of the very young Bolognese Benedetta Coliva, in her first ever race. Martina Cumerlato... in order not to lose her bet with Oberbacher, literally sprinted and even won the record, finishing with 1h56'21", but with only 28" on the Emilian 'debutante' who continued her race until after the finish line, caught up in the excitement of the podium, where she then climbed to second place ahead of Martina Falchetti, but above all the 2021 winner Caterina Stenta, who finished 4th.

This edition was also a success, underlined by the great festive atmosphere and the rediscovered (after the pandemic) special pasta party at the Cendevaves restaurant, consumed in the open air amidst umbrellas and deckchairs. The Saslong Half Marathon is also this...